First Signs Of White Spot...

[pixelpefekt]

Have you removed the black carbon out of the filter WS3 and White Spot Control are the same (I think). Good luck getting rid of the White Spot

When i got the filter (Fluval 2+) the instructions said that the carbon was only to be added when trying to clean cloudy water or removing meds from the tank - so it has never been installed. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

The filter came with a filter wool type of insert and carbon one. These are sandwiched between the sponge material in the filter. The filter wool is what's in there just now.

 

[pixelpefekt]

It's not going well.

I added the WC3 and within a day the spots had gone from the fish - I know this didn't mean white spot had left the tank but at least it gave me hope that things were going in the right direction.

However when I got up this morning the tank was looking a little empty. On closer inspection I could see that the behaviour of the fish had changed and the neons were looking like they had lost some of their number. 5 had died over night and the guppies & danios are not looking too great.

I am wondering if it's the water temperature that's doing it rather than white spot - seeing as none of the dead fish had any spots on them!

Help.

Stats - checked water last night before any deaths and...
Amonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5
PH 6.8

Water temp was 24 but raised to 28 over 4 hours.

 

[ALW]

Right the spots have gone from the body of the fish (this is a good thing), now they will fall to the bottom of the tank and form new new WS parasites, when the burst from the cyst they will try to reinfect the fish. This is the only time the WS parasite can be killed, in its free swimming stage. Sounds like the temp change and the fact that they are ill with WS was a bit too much for some of the neons (not very hardy fish anyway). Hopefully things will start to get better now, and no more fish will die. Good Luck. Sorry to hear about the loss of life. Hang in there little budies

 

[pixelpefekt]

I wonder if it's worth while taking the water temperature back down to 24. I don't want to loose any more - especially the guppies. My daughter would be very upset.

 

[ALW]

I wouldnt change the temp back yet, leave it a few days at least

 

[pixelpefekt]

I wouldnt change the temp back yet, leave it a few days at least

Lost another Neon and a 2 Guppies. All of the Guppies and Danios are were gasping at the surface so I decided to reduce the water temperature back down to 25.

When fish die from white spot, surely they would need to be covered by the spots, right? None of the fish that have dies have had signs of white spot on them. I hope I didn't kill them by raising the temperature - I didn't even put it up to 30 as adviced, I stopped at 28. I added a larger air stone and had the venturi up fill of the power filler to add as much air to the tank as possible.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

just in case your not aware of it, the reason it's advised to up the temp is because this speeds up the lifecycle of the parasites, meaning the whole process takes longer to get through. if the temp is lowered it'll still work, but you can expect it to take longer than any the packaging so continue the course a few days extra.

neons and guppies are both quite weak fish from years of inbreeding in the trade, it wouldn't be unusual for them to keel over at the first sign of trouble when hardied fish would survive.

that said the gasping at the surface is a clear sign that there's not enough oxygen in the water, the air stone and venturi should fix that.

 

[pixelpefekt]

that said the gasping at the surface is a clear sign that there's not enough oxygen in the water, the air stone and venturi should fix that.

Both airstone and venturi have been on since the temperature got turned up. Guess they are not doing enough though.

What about the signs of white spot killing a fish - would they be covered in spots? Do you think these fish may have died due to the water temp/stress rather than white spot?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

that said the gasping at the surface is a clear sign that there's not enough oxygen in the water, the air stone and venturi should fix that.

Both airstone and venturi have been on since the temperature got turned up. Guess they are not doing enough though.

What about the signs of white spot killing a fish - would they be covered in spots? Do you think these fish may have died due to the water temp/stress rather than white spot?

no fish would not necessarily be completely covered.

yes with weak fish like guppies and neons they could definatley have died from the stress.

best way to get oxygen into the water is to move the filter output so it breaks the water surface and creates waves.

 

[pixelpefekt]

...best way to get oxygen into the water is to move the filter output so it breaks the water surface and creates waves.

Done that last night after a water change (lowered the water level to have the same effect). Thanks for the info.

 

[moritzbuesch]

Just raise the temp to 30 degrees (slowly), give the tank loads of oxygen. I kept my bubbles going 24 hours a day..
Add some Melafix daily which is usually pretty safe for all fish even if you use a slightly more dosage.. do this for 5 days and see how it goes.
It worked for me
Mo

 

[dusky]

When I turned temp up to get rid of whitespot on the clowns I lost tetras & couple of guppies, was too hot for them. When one of other clowns got it last week I didn't turn temp up , just used salt and it cleared up within 5 days.